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Harvest report 2023
The 2023 vintage will be remembered as a rather complex year for those of us who live in the world of viticulture. The inclement weather was hard on Mendoza's vineyards. Even so, the grapes we obtained have an interesting character that allows us to dream of great wines.
From the beginning of spring and during the summer, temperatures were higher than the usual averages. In addition, there were widespread frosts in almost all regions on October 31 and November 1, which caused significant damage. This caused yields to be low, with overall losses averaging 30%-40%. In some parts the loss was more than 80% and in others between 10 and 20%, depending mainly on the area, the varietal and the topography of the farm.
In the months of January, February and March, this panorama was compounded by unusual heat waves, with very little rainfall and very low relative humidity. The water crisis in our oases continues to be serious and the availability of water complicated irrigation, especially in areas where we depend on surface water, which was extremely scarce. The plants had to endure intense water stress, which caused a greater decrease in yields (in addition to the losses due to frost) and generally reduced the size of the grape berries to a very small size.
Juan Roby, the winery's winemaking manager, explained the keys to the success of this vintage: "In order to get the most out of these grapes, it was key to determine the right time to harvest: many samples, a lot of walking around and a lot of tasting in order to make the right decision about when would be the best time for each area, varietal and type of wine. In this way, we decided to bring forward the grape harvesting times for both whites and reds, and for this same reason, the health of the grapes was excellent. The hard work of our agronomists paid off."
Finally, due to all the given conditions, the wines present very good concentration, excellent color and vibrant aromas of fresh fruit, good natural acidity, firm tannins and important structure.
"I am surprised by the excellent levels of acidity and freshness despite the high temperatures experienced during the summer," commented Pablo Ortega, the winery's winemaker. He also added that he was satisfied with the tannic structure and color of the red wines, "We are convinced that we will have excellent wines with a lot of character".
Drummond
Yield losses of close to 30%. Wines with very intense color and aromas.
Organic Semillon: harvested the first week of February. This variety, which is very susceptible to bunch rot, had excellent health and optimum ripeness in this dry and warm year,
Organic Malbec: we started around February 20 and finished the first week of March. Great concentration, fine tannins and elegance.
Perdriel
Sectors with very different realities. The lower areas had almost total losses. The higher sectors had losses between 30 and 50%.
Excellent concentration. Balance between sugar and good natural acidity.
Agrelo
They were quite affected and yields showed a loss of 70% or 80%, high areas close to 30%. Excellent quality Malbec with good concentration in color, aroma and tannin texture.
Gualtallary.
Moderate losses, between 10 and 20%. It was a great vintage in terms of sugar-acidity-tannin balance.
On February 7 we started harvesting the Chardonnay and then continued with the Pinot Noir for the sparkling wine base. Then it was the turn of Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc and before the end of February, we were harvesting the Pinot Noir for still wine. All with excellent natural acidity, freshness and intense fruit aromas.
We take care in our Pinot to extract the tannins during the winemaking process to take only the most elegant and ripe tannins.
For the Malbec, the harvest began after March 7 and was extended for 2 weeks, followed by the Cabernet Franc and finally the Cabernet Sauvignon. We believe that in all cases we will obtain great wines, with powerful intensity and concentration.
